#since characters can start their own I figured it was flexible

[myreygn]

kny modern au - characters: hashira

includes: gyomei, tengen, giyuu, sanemi, obanai, kanae, kyojuro, mitsuri, shinobu, muichiro

HUGE thanks and shout out to @giggly-squiggily and @trans-ace-lee for their contributions to this au and indulging my brainrots ♡

inspiration was taken from the german school system because that's what i grew up and am most familiar with:

ages 2-6 (flexible, not mandatory): kindergarten

ages 6-10 (grades 1-4): elementary school

ages 10/11-16/17 (grades 5-10): "secondary school", the diploma qualifies you for an education outside of university (craft sector, social sector etc)

ages 16/17-18/19 (grades 11-12): "upper school", the diploma qualifies you for university

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Himejima Gyomei (27, theology major)

grew up in a buddhist orphanage after his parents gave him up because they were ableist idiots who didn't want to raise a blind child

had a very happy childhood, has never been adopted and isn't upset about it in the slightest

went on a spiritual journey for five years after school and wrote a bestseller book about it

started going to university at age 23, helps out at the orphanage whenever he can

has a seeing-eye dog named Curry (a four year old black labrador and the only being on earth he would kill for, he got her when he returned from his journey)

can afford his own flat and lives right next to the orphanage with Curry

advocate for a more inclusive university life and very active in groups fighting for disability rights, both on and off campus

Uzui Tengen (23, music major)

was somewhat of a public figure from a very young age because the Uzui clan is one the richest, most powerful families in the country and everyone in town knows who they are

always hated his parents and moved out at 18, got a small fortune (that's rich people slang for a ton of money, source: trust me) from a cool uncle and used it to open a night club which is very popular with the locals

has no contact to his siblings (even tho he'd like to) and avoids all of his dad's properties like the plague

started going to university at age 20 because he wanted to do something with his passion

plays a bunch of instruments (piano, harp, guitar, violin, shamizen, koto and like ten different types of flute)

lives with his girlfriends in an almost-a-mansion and throws the best partys anyone has ever been to

Tomioka Giyuu (21, philosophy major)

his parents died when he was three years old and him and his sister went through foster care until she came off age and became his legal guardian, they're super close

has been studying several martial arts at Urokodaki's dojo since he was in elementary school

picked philosophy as a major because he had no idea what else to do but it's actually fun??

he mostly just sits in the back and draws stick figures but once a week he'll say something that makes everyone rethink their entire life (no one really understands what's happening inside his head but his professors are convinced he's a genius)

teaches little kids in the dojo because Urokodaki thinks it'd be good for him, he's slowly warming up to it

the type of peanut allergy where his throat closes up at the sight of them, when they were in fifth grade Sanemi almost killed him because he didn't know about it and it delayed their friendship by roughly two years

Shinazugawa Sanemi (21, physics major)

abusive pos dad got stabbed when he was ten, helped his mom raise his younger siblings and is super close with all of them

moved out at 20 when his mom encouraged him to spend more time at university, roommates with Obanai, Giyuu and Sabito

colorblind from birth and dysgraphic when it comes to handwriting, uses recording devices and laptops in class

used to get into a lot of fights in school and still works on not doing that™, most people think he's scary and a delinquent (and also a murderer because it's kinda sus that none of the family members showed up at their dad's funeral)

biker, the motorcycle has wind art on it and he mostly uses it to pick up the tons of children that somehow snuck into his friend circle and take Kanae on drives, loves bringing his guitar to play her something in the moonlight

suffered through school for the most part, a new teacher (Kagaya) in tenth grade inspired him to finish "upper school" and study physics

loves Gyomei's dog like a daughter

Kocho Kanae (21, biology major)

lives with her family and has no plans of moving out until she finishes university, helps a ton in the household

the best big sister ever, drives all of her sisters and their friends around and picks them up at 3am when they're stranded somewhere (also doesn't pretend to hate it, unlike certain other older siblings with their own vehicles)

has always been into gardening and is really getting into permaculture, puts plants wherever she can and loves flowers

most of her cooking ingredients are from her own garden, vegetarian (everything she cooks or bakes will be the best thing you ever ate)

has the voice of an angel, Sumi, Kiyo and Naho refuse to go to bed without her singing them a lullaby

christmas is her favorite time of the year, she goes all out with planning the festivities and getting everyone gifts and needs three whole days to recharge afterwards

has to wear a biteguard when she's stressed because she'll start clenching her teeth in her sleep and works really hard to keep it a secret from everyone

Iguro Obanai (21, philosophy major)

somewhat of a local legend, not by his own doing but by people just making shit up about him

grew up in a cult of which all the members were killed in a fire with him being the only survivor and a huge news story all across the country at age 12

moved to another city as soon as he was old enough to start anew but the rumors follow him everywhere (and it doesn't help that he talks to his snake)

mostly annoyed by the rumors but also likes to use them to scare people of who are being super pushy or harassing his friends (that's the first time in his life he found friends, he can and will commit atrocious crimes on their behalf)

originally enrolled in zoology, then switched majors when the professors wanted to use Kaburamaru as a test subject

spends his time in philosophy class taking a stance against whatever Giyuu says and has an entire folder filled with essays criticizing his statements

always carries headphones with him, listens to lofi because he likes it, mcr because he feels it in his soul and doom metal solely to fuck with tengen ("Screaming is not music!")

Rengoku Kyojuro (20, history major)

still lives at home with his dad and brother because he didn't want to leave Senjuro behind, spends most of his time out of the house tho and is looking for a flat right now

works parttime at a restaurant that's called Umainia and his friends have yet to figure out whether he says "Umai" all the time because he likes his food or to advertise his work place

slightly hearing impaired, has hearing aids prescribed that he just forgets to put in at all times

doesn't have a driver's license, goes by bike everywhere no matter the weather

gets close to people easily, is well beloved amongst Senjuro's friends and also makes an effort to get to know them so he can be sure Senjuro's in good hands

regularly forgets people's names but never their birthdays

collects old books and learned a bunch of old languages just to be able to read them

Kanroji Mitsuri (19, art major)

still lives at home because she wants to stay with her family and help take care of her siblings, also claims that she had invested too much time in her room to just leave it behind (her room looks like every cool fluffy fairy core room you have ever seen on pinterest, it's the coziest place on earth)

if there's a sanrio themed version of stuff she needs, she's getting it, no questions asked.

slightly allergic to dogs, she doesn't care though and cuddles with Curry all the time, she calls it confrontation therapy (it works)

animal lover in general, she even built a little terrarium in her room so Kaburamaru has a comfy spot for his naps when Obanai stays over

has kept every drawing she ever made and sometimes looks through them for inspiration, also likes to track her progress that way

there's a coffee shop across the street from her house where she has been customer of the month every month consistently for four years as well as an honorary mention ever since she was six

Kocho Shinobu (18, student)

in her last year of school and likely about to graduate with a perfect score

founder and president of the first aid club, also head of the student council and an active member on every committee the school has to offer

recently got her driver's license but keeps it a secret so she doesn't have to play chauffeur for her sisters

effectively avoids getting asked out for dates by being very scary™ (and taking jiu jitsu classes since elementary school), she's also your go to person when creepy weirdos won't leave you alone

loves cooking with her sisters and often shares her own recipes with Kanao, she also has her own little corner in Kanae's garden where she plants stuff that she uses to make her own medicine

has a lot on her plate with school and her clubs and some volunteer stuff she does here and there, so she goes to the local animal shelter once a week to cuddle and play with the cats and dogs there, it's her little safe zone to unwind and she doesn't tell anyone about it

the biggest fan of psychological thrillers you will ever meet

Tokito Muichiro (14, student)

in eighth grade and no one knows how he did it but everyone suspects that his brother took at least some of his exams in his place

he's not bad at school per se but he just can't memorize stuff, you're lucky if he knows your name after sitting next to each other for six months

is a member of the cooking club tho and absolutely thriving there, he never goes by recipe and creates the most delicious things but he won't tell anyone his secret ingredients because he can't remember them either

absolutely loves visiting his friends' houses, he's so happy seeing how their rooms reflect them

followed Yuichiro everywhere all throughout elementary school, then made his first friend in fifth grade (Tanjiro of course) and has been getting more and more independent ever since

constantly misses bus stops or takes trains in the wrong direction and is always late because of it, however he has also acquired an extensive knowledge of the town and can give you directions to pretty much everywhere

tries his very best to remember his friends' birthdays but forgets his own every year because it just kinda slips his mind that he has the same birthday as Yuichiro

[ungrateful-cyborg]

Social media comparison

Alright. I've tried different new/alternative platforms lately in hope to find something I really liked, and there are very promising ones. I didn't try everything, of course, but this is a kind of overview of my journey so far? Or just my thoughts on the matter.

I've tried Pillowfort, Bluesky, Mastodon (didn't last long enough to have much of an opinion, it simply didn't click), Dreamwidth and Cohost (as of today, can't post there yet).

My comparison under the cut:

► I appreciate that they're algorithm free, whether it's because they truly believe in an Internet rid of the most invasive of them or because it's too expensive to implement on a brand new platform or some other reason. Only the future can tell, but for now it's nice.

► Pillowfort: beside the post formatting that I find extremely comfortable, my favourite thing is probably communities. I feel like this is the strongest "pro" in favor of Pillowfort because this is where they truly distinguish themselves from other social media.

Communities, in a way, remind me of forums. They're however easier to take in hand since you don't have to deal with as many options and choices. In my opinion, communities on Pillowfort are a bit lacking in functionalities though. I think more tools to easily organize them would help, like a widget or something to link stuff so you can create and animate events within said communities.

(I also feel like Pillowfort would gain from not being dark blue. We have more than enough dark blue websites, and it doesn't go well with the warmth invoked by its name in my opinion, but that's a minor detail and just a matter of taste.)

► Bluesky: basically Twitter but better. No algorithm, for a start. The curated feeds are nice. They're a bit like communities on Pillowfort since they can be moderated but from a non-mod user, it's even easier to post in them: you just have to use the right keyword for your post to appear there. Well, if the mod left it open to all rather than chose to vet who can or cannot post in it. Lots of flexibility and control over your timeline overall.

I don't like the 300 characters limit, however. Never liked it with Twitter either. It's not really conductive to conversations, and the general design tends to make the website feel rather impersonal. It's really more like parallel talking than community building.

Overall I think it's a good tool to promote your (visual) art or website, etc. but not great for hosting conversations past commenting briefly what others are doing. I mean, you can make threads but it'll never be as good as Pillowfort or Tumblr for this.

► Dreamwidth: I'll start with saying that Dreamwidth isn't a social media, it's a journaling platform and I haven't used it much yet. Had in plan to post my headcanons about my muses there and stuff like that so I did spend some time trying to figure out how it works.

First, there is a lot of options to let you have complete control over who can see what. Like, a lot.

You can entirely personalize what your journal will look like. It's a bit easier than having your own website—since I reblogged a post about that yesterday—because you don't start from 0, so it might be a good option if you don't feel comfortable jumping into Notepad++ to start coding. You can just change a thing here and there, or nothing at all, or almost everything. It's pretty old school though, so for those completely unfamiliar with early/pre-web 2.0, it might not look very appealing at first. However, I'd say don't let that stop you! If anything, it's a good opportunity to learn a bit of code without pressure.

You can also create communities, which as you might have guessed is very important to me. When creating one, you can set up whether everyone can join, everyone can ask to join but has to be approved by a community admin or to limit the access to those you have personally invited. Like for your own journal, communities are completely customizable, and Dreamwidth allows adult content.

I'm not sure you can top DW communities in terms of functionalities—aside from making a forum—but it's not as intuitive as Pillowfort (though in exchange you get more customization). You're also more limited regarding image hosting (see here). That said, hosting services exist, many are free, and that's without mentioning that you can post on Twitter and the like and use the picture link in your DW posts. I don't think many will only use Dreamwidth anyway.

► Cohost: I was expecting nothing when I registered earlier today, but this is an overall good surprise: it's Tumblr, but better.

More control of what you see. More user-friendly UI. It's not fucking blue. Adult content allowed. You can change your main blog page and make it private.

The only two downsides I'd mention here would be that you can't customize your blog page appearance and you have to wait for one or two days before being able to post. Although if it means less bots, I'd rather wait.

And this ends my rather non-exhaustive tour of the social media/blogging/journaling platforms. If you catch any mistakes let me know. I didn't dive deep, this was just me sharing my thoughts.

(As far as I know, they all allow adult content and give you tools to not see it if you don't want to.)

[celestie0]

ellie's writing tips

hellooo this is just a lil masterpost for the writing tips i have collected over my time writing since it's a question i get often!! this way it's all in one place <3 this is also for my own reference to look back on when i forget them lol

tips for specifically writing long fics

on coming up with a main storyline.

planning out a general idea & premise at the beginning of the fic that helps two characters get closer to one another, such as a forced proximity, some sort of mutual agreement, a mission to complete, etc. is a great way to get the ball rolling on a fic and can create environments between characters that feels connected and necessary rather than forced

on coming up with secondary storylines.

after laying down the main groundwork, building some side storylines adjacent to the main one that will give you options down the line to play with narratively (you don't need to figure out exactly what you want to do with secondary plotlines up front, but having them in place can create flexibility in your story to pivot towards some ideas if you'd like to later in the story)

on planning chapters & scenes.

it's wise to have a general idea for your series, but it's also okay to scrap those ideas if ultimately they don't work. there will be scenes that do not make sense or fit in the way you thought they would've, and making last minute decisions is okay and totally normal. sometimes better answers will find you along the way, and it's only a testament to how well you're getting to know your own story and also your own characters. it's also okay to plan multiple path ideas for your story, and choose whichever one fits best once you get to that point. it's not necessary to have a scene-by-scene in order to start writing! planning is useful, but writing is more important

on finding motivation to continue long fics.

having certain "key" scenes planned out in the very early stages of writing that you know you will look forward to writing can help with finding motivation. it will also help you find momentum to write during points where you might have some writer's block. also, one of the best tips i have seen for writing chaptered fics, is to end your chapters when you still have a little bit left planned. so cutting it like 10% short so that you have an immediate jumping off of point that you can start with for the next chapter

my general writing tips

inspiration. starting off w a concept or idea that you already know you like from a tv show or book works really well for fanfiction! for example if you like spiderman, then you can write a canon-adjacent spiderman au w your fave character from an anime or something. and then maybe once you start writing, your own original ideas start to come into play and you go off of those. i think in the fanfic community, people adore spin-offs & mainstream concept ideas

dialogue. my biggest tip for dialogue would be to just write all of your dialogue for a scene completely stripped down. none of the “he says” & “she says” or action verbs in between, just write it all out like it was a simple text convo w quotation marks. that way the words will sound realistic because you’re only picturing a convo in your head, rather than also trying to juggle all the descriptive prose. then, you can go back in to fluff things up. if it’s meant to be comedic or a fast-paced argument, keeping it relatively stripped down is the way to go, but if it’s something intense or suspenseful then fluffing it up may be the better choice. also, i find dialogue becomes easier the more you write for a specific character, so if it’s not flowing right away, don’t worry!! their words will find you eventually once you get to know the character better :)

on choosing conflicts. characters won’t always act perfect, but i think a great way to make conflict seem realistic is for them to act in character but with flaws, rather than out of character with flaws. maybe make a list of what that character’s good qualities and how those qualities could also work against them, and use the latter to brainstorm realistic conflict that those qualities could put them in (ex: a character is self-sufficient, but that causes them to rely on ppl less when they need it -> they fail to reach out for help in timely manners and leads to mistakes/regrets)

pacing. when starting off a story, don’t be afraid to just jump straight into it! or jump straight into the dialogue and then build the scene gradually as it progresses, rather than [big block of text in beginning of scene that reader must drag their eyes through] and then get to the dialogue. make sure the pacing fits the scene (romantic -> longer paragraphs more focused on subtle details, comical -> short paragraphs n dialogue heavy w simple n relatable diction, etc)

for tone and mood. to get words flowing for different scenes, it can be really useful to get into the environment of those scenes while you’re writing, such as listening to a song that fits the vibe of the scene prior to/during writing, or if its a scene at night, write it w the lights off, or watch a youtube vid w scenery that matches. may sound silly, but it could help!

read more. this is sort of a miscellaneous one but a good way to subconsciously get better at writing is to just read more! your brain kinda learns how to write on its own when you read. also, when i’m reading, if i see words i really like i jot them down in my notes app so i have my own lil vocabulary of words that i know i would like to use in my writing

on writing insecurities. be proud of your writing!! your first draft does NOT have to be perfect. some days the words will flow, but on some they won’t, and that’s okay. don’t get too into your head about “i wonder what readers will think of this plot point or this character action” etc, i think having faith in your own process but also in your readers will bring you a lot of peace as you write :) create what you want to create and the rest will follow!! at the end of the day it’s just a hobby and you should be writing what YOU want to write!! and just get started! ☺️ that’s the easiest way to write—is to just write 🫶🏼💕

use chatgpt. looool ai can be useful in writing too! i usually only use it after i'm completed with a draft, and i just plug select paragraphs into it to see if it can come up with some better words for me to use. it's also useful to come up with logistical details for aspects of your stories for world-building etc

[cryptidghostgirl]

Heyy :)))

any writing tips for beginners?

First off, can I just say, it is genuinely such an honor to get asked this question? It makes me so happy.

The biggest thing I would recommend for beginners is just to write. The more you write, the more used to it you get. I know that doesn't sound like very productive advice, but it is the truth. I have been writing fics since I was twelve and I am twenty one now. My first fics were shit. One of my earliest ones (its a BSD Akutagawa x Reader fic called Project X I started when the show first came out back in 2016 and finished in 2022 that is still up on my wattpad, which is linked in my pinned post, if you want proof I am not lying) is genuine shit, but I put a lot of passion and a lot of time into it (to the point that if you read the book, you watch me learn how to write). It was the practice and time spent that did the trick. So write and write and write. You don't have to post it anywhere or show it to anyone until you feel like you are ready (or at all). The more you do it, the more everything will fall into place.

The second thing I would recommend is to write the stories that you want to read, whether fanfiction or not. You have to be invested in whatever you're making in order for it to work. If you don't care, you wont put the effort in. You wont take the time for it. The only reason I started writing in the first place was because I would read fic after fic and I never saw anyone else putting the ideas I had on to paper (this actually lead to me starting a mini trend in the BSD fic community on wattpad lol). This will also help, if you are putting your work out into the world in some way, with the idea of reward. Whether through notes or readers or whatever, as long as you like what you are writing and you want to read what you are making, it is worth it and it is enough.

Third is to read. One of the ways I developed my own writing style was by taking note of the things I liked about other peoples writing styles (doesn't matter whom. I take a lot of the way I write from poets and authors like Annie Dillard and Terry Pratchett as well as other fic writers). So much of writing is about aesthetics and personal preference. Once I knew what I defined as 'good writing,' I could figure out how to morph my own work into something I deemed 'good.' This also counts for reading the things you yourself have written. I go back and re-read and edit my own work all the fucking time, both out of an enjoyment for the stories I create and in an effort to make them better. The best thing you can do is to read your work out loud. Listen to what you change when you read it out loud, what sounds odd or uncomfortable, where there are gaps. It really helped me when I first started writing fics almost ten years ago, and it still helps me now.

This is a weird one, but when you're writing about emotions, try to feel the emotion yourself. Think about what something like fear does to a person. Picture the situation you are writing and take the time to think about the ways in which you personally, or your character, would react to it. Writing reactions, body movements, things like that, has always been the most difficult for me, especially when its in-between dialogue and not just big blocks of text. Taking a moment and closing my eyes, feeling the shiver down my spine or the burst of sudden joy, really helps pin down the ideas and figure out how to describe them.

Also, if you know other languages, think about the things you like about the way those function and how you can incorporate that into your work. A lot of the way I structure sentences comes from ancient Greek, for example, with my usage of participles and timing. It doesn't have to be an ancient language though! And it doesn't even really have to be another language. All that matters is that you are actively thinking about the way the words interact with one another and what is pleasing to you. English is such a flexible and fun thing, there is so much meaning in every word and if you want to, it can be really fun to play around with. (I am a philologist. I am sorry for the little rant.)

That being said, it is important that you understand the grammar of the language you are writing in. This might just be a personal thing, but incorrect grammar tends to really bug me. Once you know the rules, they are easier to follow and it makes a huge difference. Also, incorporating techniques like varied sentence length/structure and literary devices like metaphor, allusion, ekphrasis, and simile can really make a piece more enjoyable for a perspective reader (whether the reader is yourself or someone else.)

Write what you know, write what you love, write what you want, write what you need, write. Don't worry about it being 'good enough,' if it is on the paper it is good enough. The hardest part is starting. Once you've got that under your belt, anything is possible.

Now that this post is almost excessively long, I am gonna make myself stop. I really hope at least some of this made sense and that you find it helpful.

<3 <3

[ceilidho]

Hey! I think youre an amazing writer and i really look up to you. Ive been reading your works since reylo, you inspired me to write my own reylo stuff. I think youre wonderful and could read your works over and over again. I was just wondering if I could ask you advice. I'm trying to get into writing second person pov fanfic, but I'm terrible at it. I can write it from third person or first person no problem. I was wondering if you had any tips.

oh thank you, i really appreciate that!!! and im so glad you're giving writing a shot!! honestly it's so tough to actually make the decision to sit down and write something and then show it to other people (and it's very scary and kind of humbling as you get better and better and look back at your old work haha) so that's so awesome!!

i actually wrote so much beneath this so i needed the "read more" lmaooo

actually, i'll tell you what, when you first transition from writing 1st or 3rd person to writing in 2nd person, it feels weird and abnormal, but i've actually grown to love 2nd pov. i just love the way it sounds in my head when i'm constructing a sentence. and tbh there's actually not a huge difference from writing 1st and 2nd pov in my opinion.

like my general thoughts around 2nd pov are:

obviously since it's an internal dialogue (like the perspective is rooted in the person you're writing from rather than some omniscient 3rd pov), while you can still describe what's happening on the main character's face ("you purse your lips" "you frown, annoyed" etc), it's still coming from their perspective, so there's a level of depth there that other characters around them don't have. like Price in my western fic is a bit more mysterious on account of him not being a narrator figure in the story.

if you're using 2nd pov because you're writing an x reader fic, and you want to keep your reader character quite neutral, ensure that you're avoiding big descriptors like skin colour, hair texture/length, body size (unless you're specifically writing a fat reader or a reader with a specific body type, in which case, go wild!), height, etc. your reader character is never going to be 100% neutral, but just pay attention to any descriptors you add and you can make sure they're as neutral as can be.

this is probably obvious, but you don't have to start every sentence with "you did x" or "you said y" or whatever. you can still be loose and flexible with your sentences like you might be in a 3rd person narration. like, i'll take apart a paragraph from my fic and highlight where i've added the "you/your" pov:

The worry making your body tense and stiff finally releases once you’re alone. You curl up on the bed without pulling down the sheets or taking your dress off. The journey's left you weak, sapped of energy. Worn down to your base elements. Hardly unexpected after what you’ve gone through, after leaving behind a cooling body two states away. The days since have left you sick with worry, nerves shot when you consider how the authorities will look to you first, the maid, and find in your absence all the answers they need. 

notice that i only started one sentence with "you" here. i think some people mistake using 2nd pov for thinking that the entire story/fic has to be a direct narration of what the character is doing (i.e. "you walk to the end of the hall and then you sit down. you notice a silver bullet on the table near you. you pick it up.") but that's not the case.

the narration is coming from this character, yes, but it's also still a story. this is hard to describe, but there's almost a weird, unconscious 3rd pov in the story at the same time, like you're looking down at this narrator and you're speaking through them, but you still have some externality. in order to tell an evocative, interesting story, you HAVE to know and notice at least a bit more than your narrator consciously does.

this kind of mirrors real life in a way actually because your brain picks up a lot of information that you as a person don't consciously absorb. it's why humans are able to have quick reflexes and dodge/duck things or whatever without realizing what they're doing. (look up "unconscious perception"). you can do this with 1st pov as well, but 1st pov is very useful for stream of consciousness stories or really getting into a character's head. 2nd pov is still governed by that narrator character, but it's picking up on other details and information in the surrounding environment.

anyway i hope this is in any way helpful haha - it's how i like to think of writing in 2nd pov!

[onejellyfishplease]

So, I noticed that Tinker-the-dragon showed you storyboards of their own animatic (which looks great btw, can't wait to see it), and since you said you enjoyed seeing the process, I figured I'd do the same! After all, having people acknowledge and get excited for my WIPs gives me a sense of accountability to finish it, which makes it much more likely to actually get done.

So, behold my chaotic, colorful rough sketches!

The process is slow-going, since I am simultaneously working on a couple other creative projects, some are tangentially related to this one (like how I'm finalizing my headcanon designs for all the turtles beyond just Donnie), and some aren't (like drawing long overdue art of my D&D party's characters).

I'm also making some guesses/taking some liberties when it comes to the timeline. Like, I'm assuming that this AU takes place post S2 finale, and thus will take place in the new lair, but I don't actually know. (If this has been addressed in asks before, I'm probably too new of a fan of SnapDonnie to have paid attention to those asks, and don't have the attention span to scroll through a ton of asks just to obtain a specific bit of information)

Similarly, I don't know exactly at what point Donnie starts attracting flies. It might not be as early as I'm depicting here. I can certainly move that part to a later section, but I don't know what I'd replace it with.

In general, if you have suggestions for things to be changed/switched around to better fit with the 'canon' of SnapDonnie, I'd love to hear it. It's better to make changes now while things are still very rough and flexible, than once I'm more committed and frames have taken quite a bit more effort to make.

Sorry for the super long 'ask,' this ended up being a bit of an info-dump lol.

WHA- YOURE MAKING ONE TOO????

thats so cool omg!! And im just gonna go a bit crazy over the frames if u dont mind me~ BUT THE ONE WITH THE SHADOW??? thats literally so creative im obsessed with it. I love cinematic shots like that, they just make my brain buzz <3

and the one where hes doing thumbs up to Raph absolutely cracked me up!

Also to answer your questions- SnapDonnie takes please after the movie, So Raph has a blind eye and hole in his shell/plastron, Mikey has his scars (though u cant drawing them in bandages to aviod drawing them if i want -i always forget to draw them lol) and Leo has a leg brace.

And as for the flies, Donnie starts to attract them basically immediately once the physical changes start, though he basically douses himself with insect repellent at first (while he still wants to repel them) So frames 24 and 25 would go after he really starts to change instead of before.

Hope that helps!! It looks amazing so far! <3

[sheepgirl3]

heya! for the WIP asks 36. (Title your WIP like an article headline ) or 14. (Rewrite a scene from your WIP from another character’s perspective.) for 'Everyone Belongs Somewhere' from your whumptober series? no pressure of course, hope you have a good day ((((:

Ahhhhh thank you so much for the ask! And I love the story that you chose, since I’m actively writing the second chapter right now. So I decided to answer both!

Ask 36: “Younger brother struggles to understand the concept of family” or alternatively, “Dogma’s No Good, Terrible, Very Bad Life: Coming Soon on Netflix!”

And here, I present Cody’s perspective of the first chapter!

Link to the story on ao3 and the missing scene below!

*****

They’d been looking for Clone Trooper Dogma for two days and Cody was starting to fear the worst.

They’d been searching for Dogma ever since the 212th finished their last engagement and Rex had contacted Cody, desperate and without options. The 501st was called back to Coruscant without any flexibility and they weren’t able to look for Dogma. It had been a few days before the 212th had been able to start searching and Cody was worried.

The trooper was in handcuffs and without armor, according to Rex. He wouldn’t be any sort of match against the wilds of Umbara and Cody couldn’t help but wonder if the Umbarans or their planetary nightmares had already gotten to him. It was hard to pick up any sort of trail, the only signs of clone life coming from the armies that had been there before.

It was Boil that found the first clue, as they traversed wilderness that showed no signs of their armies passing through.

“Commander!” He held up a ration wrapper that had been laying on the ground. “It’s not been here long, sir. Couple days, tops, from the look of it. Troopers weren’t in this area.”

Cody twisted his head, looking around. “He can’t be far. Captain Rex said he didn’t have any supplies, so even if the ration was his, he didn’t have much else.”

“If he’s even still alive, sir.” Boil scowled, not an uncommon expression on his face but even more so since Waxer had died. “I’ll run the scans again, see what I can find.”

Cody nodded and turned away, only to pause as he caught sight of something unusual. Underneath one of the nearby plants, one with big leafy growth that glowed unnaturally, the shadows didn’t look quite right. He took a step closer and could just make out what seemed to be a hand.

“Over here!”

Cody reached the vod first, taking in the sight before him. The trooper looked to be almost dead, curled into a fetal position with only a thin blanket wrapped around his shoulders, protecting him from little of the elements. Cody felt his neck and wrist for a pulse, breathing easier once he found it. They weren’t too late yet. Cody pulled him into a sitting position and hooked his arms under the vod’s knees and shoulders, picking him up.

He weighed concerningly little.

“He’s alive.” Boil was right behind Cody, looking at the younger clone in surprise. “I wasn’t sure he would be.”

“He won’t be if we don’t get him to Helix.” Their chief medic was in another search party at the moment. “Radio the rest of the search parties and have them report back to base, stat.”

“Yes Commander.”

Cody looked down and was startled to see Dogma’s eyes open, unfocused and confused, blinking as he took in his surroundings. He looked up at Cody as if he couldn’t believe he was real.

“There you go, kid. Rest, vod. We’ve got you.” Cody watched as the young clone’s eyes slid closed again and felt a surge of protectiveness. They just needed to keep him alive and they’d figure it out from there.

[pebiejeebies]

A little (long) chat about Inanimate Insanity..

(TW: ableism, curse words *like one curse word but oh well*)

DNI if you support ableism, hate neos, hate fictkins/alterhumans, and the DNI in my pinned. Thank you.

This is a VENT/RANT.. if you don’t like my vent, simply DNI, or whatever.. I honestly don’t care.

By the way to not confuse anyone, I used multiple pronouns flexibly in this, so if you see different pronouns, it’s still me talking about myself.

(Prns used: I/me, Xe/Xer |!| Neos: Cab/Cabself, Star/Starself)

Read at your own risk.

Let’s start.. shall we? (Poll below as well, I’m interested to hear your opinion and thoughts on this)

So.. I love listening about everyone’s opinions (If it wasn’t clear already), though I hate reading hate comments, especially about things I really love, like object shows.. specifically.. Inanimate Insanity..

Xe was REALLY trying to avoid talking about this, and about the hate towards the community, but xe HAD to talk.. Xe had to see why, and now that xe sees why.. well.. it starts to make xe feel guilty that xe supported all of this, that xe enjoyed seeing cabself (cabby) get beaten up by ableism, and just thought that it was “a part of their story line/arc!” So xe just shoved it aside, thinking maybe they wanted to make cab very relatable! Since she has memory issues and such! (Which did make cab very relatable, but it wasn’t worth it at all..)

I was so gullible, I didn’t see the red flags AT ALL, and I was too scared to confront myself and actually read the hate comments. It’s so hard to see something you like so much turn into this.. ridiculousness. Why can’t I just stick to a STABLE community, that I RELATE to, LOVE, AND KIN?! 

Can you imagine?! I KIN CABBY. What am I supposed to do when one day ii gets cancelled?! What happens to us fictkins when we get hate just because our characters belong in an ableist show?! I’m seriously worried, I wish I didn’t read any of these hate comments, but yet again, I would’ve never learnt the harsh truth, the harsh reality about everything.

Star has been searching, fandom to fandom, looking for that perfect fandom that star relates to, that’s popular, that’s LIKED. And NOW… 

Star loses. again. And now star is stuck with a kin that belongs in an ableist show. Because it wasn’t stars choice, because it never was stars choice, and star thought for once.. maybe something star couldn’t choose (specifically about fictionkin) wouldn’t be so bad! What would happen if star found out star kinned a character in a silly show? 

Well.. star found out alright. And star is not sure us fictkins will be accepted. Maybe I’m overthinking this and people won’t hate star/us, but star just can’t help but worry… You know? What if people shame us for being something we never chose to be? Especially when it links with an ableist show.. 

The real question is, do YOU accept me? Do you accept US? Even though our kin types belong in a bad community? Will we be allowed to interact with people? Or will we have to hide our identities because we might be in everyone’s DNI List?? (I’m genuinely speaking for all fictkins that have a kin in the show, I’m not only worried about myself, but about my fellow kins as well. I just hope this ends well…)

…

It’s honestly hard. I hate this. I just try my best to cover up the hate with things I love, and now, I can’t even deny it! The hate isn’t hate alone.. the hate is AWARENESS. ABLEIST AWARENESS, That’s so (im)perfectly hidden behind these fanon lies to make sure that it doesn’t pop out as much, and it did work.. for me at least.. but now the truth can’t hide.

Spread awareness. Share the truth. And.. maybe we can all figure this out together.

At least, this is what I hope to see.

Will I get hate? Probably.  Am I overreacting again because I certainly love doing that? Probably..

Will I give a fuck about it? …probably.. but that doesn’t matter.

All I care to show is the truth. Whether you hate or love ii, whether you think I’m ridiculous or saying the truth.

Well. I think I’ve said enough, and if you don’t know why ii is ableist, (#ii neg) has all the answers you need..

(also tw for curse words, harsh words and hate towards a lot of things, so really be careful there. It really affected me badly when I read most of the stuff in that tag so if ur sensitive please read at your own risk.)

I guess it’s time for the poll.. maybe that’s what you came for, not sure, but do as you wish. Harsh your truth may be but I just wanted to hear it. 

*id appreciate this if you reblogged <3 /nf, and if ur worried abt me, I’ll be fine dw!*

[ambrossart]

Hi, I know I've said it a lot of times, but I really love your writing. It seems like watching a movie because while reading I can actually picture it in my head.

I wanted to ask you how you plan your characters or stories. I mean, do you immediately get an idea and start working on it or you have to think and rethink about it until you find the right inspiration?

like you mentioned in a previous ask about how you created Vic, and you said you were flexible because he wasn't really described in the novel, but still he had to fit in some image. But what about implementing new characters to an existing universe? I'm thinking about dwm reader, Scottie, Evelyn, Hannah-Beth etc, they all feel like they belong there and I'm wondering how you decided to create them the way they are.

Also, if I think about DWM everything is falling into the right place and when I read a knew part of the story I'm like "oh this was hinted chapters ago" and I think it really is amazing or also the little references here and there, I think it shows how much effort you put in that story. And..I'm curious to know...are the reader and Jason actually friends? He had some kind gestures towards her, but were they out of kindness or because she is his girlfriend's bff?

Regarding the future fics... I'm kinda loving all of your ideas, I'm looking forward to read the one where he gets jealous, or when she gets high because I strongly believe it's going to be hilarious and super cute, and you know everything involving Scottie or Gareth and the other guys.

I always write too much, so I get it if you want to skip this one 😂

Hi! First of all, I would never skip one of your asks (or anyone else's for that matter). If someone takes the time to write me a question, they deserve a well-thought-out response. Always.

Anyway, regarding how I approach my stories, I usually get an idea (or a random scene pops into my head) and I build off that one idea. With DWM, for instance, it was the image of Eddie hanging out in the bathroom with a girl at prom, and I just built the rest of the story around that. "Who is this girl?" "Why is she here?" "Why is Eddie here?" etc. I always have a general outline before I start writing, but it's not rigid because I always come up with new ideas and directions for the story as I write. For example, I was always planning on having the reader have a little crush on Eddie, but it wasn't supposed to be as deep as it ended up being (certainly not one she was harboring for 6 years 😂). That changed while I was writing Pt. 3 and then by Pt. 4, I had their relationship and history completely figured out, and that ultimately changed the entire direction of the story.

I have a similar approach to characters. With DWM, I knew instantly that I wanted the reader to be Chrissy's best friend who's kinda stuck living in her shadow. I think she plays up her sarcastic, snarky persona in an attempt to stand out from Chrissy. She wants to be the sour to Chrissy's sweet; otherwise, she would be even more invisible than she already is. I also gave her a lot of my own qualities and flaws, and most of her personal anecdotes are taken directly from my life. Yeah, DWM is completely self-indulgent. I basically created a fictionalized version of myself and had her date Eddie, and I'm not ashamed to admit it.

With Paper Men, most of those characters were born out of necessity. I needed a main character to guide us through the story, and Richie already had a sister (who doesn't appear) in the movie, so that was an easy starting point. I just created my vision of his sister, taking a lot of his qualities and twisting them around to suit her. Since I decided to make Evelyn a very friendly and outgoing person, I needed to give her friends, so I made Hannah, the shy Christian girl who's obsessed with trashy romance novels and lives vicariously through Evelyn (I love her so much), and Paul, the professional slacker who's always sabotaging her grand plans with his laziness. Because most of the story takes place at school and Evelyn is so involved in school, I needed the school to feel real, so I created a bunch of students to populate it. Gradually, a lot of them developed their own unique identities, and I let them go crazy.

Another thing I like to do is create a lot of shared history between the characters. I think that's an easy way to make all the characters feel like they exist in the same world. That's why both DWM and Paper Men make so many references to the past.

Speaking of references, I'm glad you appreciate all my foreshadowing and callbacks to earlier stories/scenes in DWM because that's one of my favorite things to do when I write. Whenever I'm working on a new story, I always try to think about how it relates to what's already happened and how it will affect future works. For instance, the most recent fic "Out of the Loop" has set the foundation for a lot of future fics. The reader is definitely going to find out about Claire Dunnock, the girl who Eddie absolutely slept with 😬. Claire said she had a class with Eddie last year, well... guess who else was in that class? The reader and she saw them flirting. I don't have it on the list, but it'll be a story. The reader has already expressed discomfort about Eddie's previous sexual experiences, and this will only make that worse.

Finally moving on!

To speak about Jason and the reader's relationship. They are truly friends and not just because of Chrissy (although that is a huge factor). They've known each other since elementary school. They weren't "hang out outside of school" friends, but they were friends. I've mentioned this before, but the reader used to have a crush on Jason back in elementary school, but once she found out he liked Chrissy, she had to let that crush go. She can't compete with Chrissy. Nobody would ever choose her over Chrissy. So she had no choice but to step back and surrender. She doesn't have romantic feelings for him anymore, but she still admires his good qualities (and Jason does have really great qualities). That being said, Jason does truly care about her as a person, which is why he bought her a corsage and danced with her at prom. It wasn't just because he felt sorry for her or because he felt obligated to do it. He genuinely cares about her, and he thinks she can do a lot better than Eddie.

Lastly, regarding future fics, the one where the reader finally gets to high school is going to be funny (because Scottie's in it and he knows that Eddie has been pining for the reader for the last two years) but it's also going to be really sad. They're both so excited to see each other and are secretly hoping to jump back into their friendship again, but as we know from the main story, that doesn't happen. They don't talk to each other. Nobody apologizes. They just fall into their expected roles and go back to being strangers. It's almost as if that summer never even happened. It's really sad and Eddie takes it very hard.

Holy crap, I wrote too much. Gold star to anyone who finished this! ⭐️

[roguestorm]

Do you equate cyclops with mutant resistance? Is he like the poster person for challenging the status quo?

I mean, the poster person is Magneto. Magneto is Mr. Overthrow the Status Quo to Build a Better World for Mutants. That’s his whole shtick.

Scott is a lot more complicated. For a long time, he was very much the quintessential X-Men, dedicated to duty and Xavier’s dream. Whether or not Xavier’s vision counts as mutant resistance depends a lot on both the writer and the reader, as what actually the X-Men are trying to achieve changes a lot and how radical of a stance you think that is depends heavily on your own political ideas and commitments.

Around 2010 with Utopia and then Schism, they started making Scott a little more radical, and then 2016’s Uncanny X-Men really leaned into the resistance leader idea, as he was hated by all the other X-Men but was gonna lead a mutant revolution. Krakoa kind of upended all of that, since Krakoa era is really weird in that it largely goes against Xavier’s dream and what the X-Men were founded for, so it’s hard to pin any Krakoa era character down in the existing like Xavier to Magneto spectrum.

So whether or not someone reads Scott as revolutionary or as a figure of mutant resistance is gonna depend heavily on what comics they prioritize. I started reading comics in 2015, so Bendis’s revolutionary Scott was pretty key in forming my opinion of the character. But people whose foundational comics were like the late 70s team are going to think of him as much more of a stick in the mud rule-bound type than a resistance figure.

As like a person, Scott is pretty inflexible and somewhat ruthless when it comes to doing what he thinks is right. This means that he’s devoted to the rules and fighting for mutant rights the “right” way and then he can switch and be devoted to resistance and taking far more drastic action, because the devotion is constant even as different writers shift his political allegiances around. (This is in contrast to someone like Ororo, who is always pretty flexible with her rules imo, or someone like Betsy, who’s often more wrapped up in her own missions than in a larger political agenda.)

[iamthepulta]

Hey which media/story/franchise is your liztlie AU based on? I've been trying to figure it out based on context clues and I'm getting no where. Please insert long ass info dump rant below.

OH HELL YEAH. <3

The Liztlie AU is based on the Fallen London universe by Failbetter Game studio! Fallen London is a decade-old browser game that’s updated regularly. It’s excellent. There’s also a PC game called Sunless Seas, which was my introduction to the fandom and still some of my favorite content. After the success of Sunless Seas, they made another PC game called Sunless Skies, which I love lore-wise, but for some reason can’t get into playing. (And now they have Mask of the Rose! Which just came out on the 8th! Also set in Fallen London, but a prequel to all of the games.)

For some background, Fallen London and Sunless Seas are set in the same location and same timeline. London as a city, has been pulled down into the cave called the Neath. (Mask of the Rose is set just after the Fall happens.) There are several different London factions, but most importantly, on one end of the Neath, there is a Gate. Sunless Skies is, strictly speaking, a possible AU timeline, set after London discovers and opens that Gate to a realm called the Reach.  

Sunless Skies is its own beast; all the lore in Sunless Seas and Fallen London is dialed up to 11. The focus is on either allying or destroying the 'Great Chain of Being', which includes everything from the industrialist time-manipulating nightmare London has become, to talking rats, to the “Gods”, the Suns of each realm which feed off of the souls of their inhabitants. The game developers did a great job at expanding the world of Fallen London in Sunless Skies, and there are several maps you can play through, a few dozen storylines, and a lot of cool content. (10/10, recommend. Although as fellow rock-eater, you might prefer Sunless Seas. It’s always a tossup.)

So because PC gameplay isn’t enough, people enthusiastically made an RPG out of Sunless Skies! Enter Grant Howitt and Chris Taylor. The Skyfarer RPG system is one page long. I’m biased because I hate long, complicated, number-based RPG systems, but I think this RPG is awesome. It was meant for short campaigns, it’s a d10 system, and your character is designed around being one of the officers on a Skies locomotive. Easy, inventive, and flexible.

Enter two ADHD geologists and a pandemic:

@paleomancer hit up our friend group one day and asked if we wanted to play a oneshot RPG in Skyfarer. We were socially distancing and mentally traumatized nerds, so of course the answer was Yes. And the oneshot was great! We made our characters, played the game for a few hours, finished the oneshot plot, and successfully carried our passenger to Elutheria along with her illicit books. We liked it so much we agreed to keep playing every few weeks just to keep in touch during the pandemic.

This was all well and good until I lost my mind playing Westlie. My dipshit friends (affectionate) thought it was a great idea for me, the First Mate, to be promoted when our captain kicked the bucket. I hadn’t written fiction since college, but I started writing again as I fleshed out her backstory and the DM and I crafted her sister, Morgan. Then I just kind of kept… creating stories and toying with different ways for Westlie to develop until @justanormalseagull and I were playing around with the Found Family/Adoption trope. She'd played Lizzie’s character, and in a burst of inspiration, I realized the plot of our first few Skyfarer seasons would still work well if Westlie adopted Lizzie and never left London. So I casually wrote five chapters as a gift, fell down the rabbit hole again, and now the Liztlie AU is a 200k monster. xD

So to really answer your question, the Liztlie AU is an AU of our Skyfarer Game, which is a translation of Sunless Skies, which is an AU of Sunless Seas, which is an offshoot of the ancient, niche, Fallen London browser game. xD The context clues are piecemeal at best, haha.

But the nice thing! At this point, the Liztlie AU is its own standalone story; it starts at the 'beginning' of the Skyfarer campaign, so you don't need to know anything about the Pyrrhus. And it's set in Sunless Skies, but I explain 90% of the world as Westlie learns about it anyway. Both aspects are basically Easter eggs for readers to enjoy if they happen to know. Which makes the absurdity of what I'm writing even greater because the AU is kind of my own novel now? But also, most definitely not.

The best links if you want to browse are: My Archive -> “the crew of the Pyrrhus” (for memes of the main campaign), "fl", “dnd”, "liztlie au", “wm”, “mw”, or just “westlie”

THANKS FOR ASKING! THIS MADE MY EVENING. :D NOW YOU KNOW! :D

Brief character summaries (links lead to more):

Westlie Faire is/was my Skyfarer PC. She has a horrible father, Arthur Faire, and ran away from the title of Heir to Fairweather Shipping Co. to be the First Mate on the Pyrrhus.

Morgan Faire is her younger sister. Extremely lucky due to [redacted] reasons.

Lizzie Twaddle is/was @justanormalseagull ‘s PC. She was an orphan who snuck aboard the Pyrrhus and got adopted as mascot by the crew. In the AU, she’s adopted by Westlie while she’s trying to sneak onboard a train and Westlie takes her back to London. Just wants a family. T__T

[proceduralpassion]

Get To You

Day 18 of Narcoctober- Create a fanwork about characters experiencing, participating in, or witnessing a real life historical event (could have been depicted in canon or not) e.g. moon landing.

Character(s): Javier Pena x Sandra Castellano (OC); kinda platonic kinda not

CW: language, terrorism/bombing, mentions of OKC bombing

WC: ~1.2K

A/N: Hiii enjoy this cameo of Sandra from IWBSS. The setting in history is the OKC bombing, but the fic mostly focuses on the dynamic between these two.

They kept in touch once they moved onto separate assignments. Javi was transferred back to El Paso, working several cases including crime bosses who specialized in designer drugs and laced fentanyl. Sandra was working on a paper that linked cities where drug cartels had gotten a foothold in. It had taken her to Jaurez, Calexico, and even Miami, where she had spent her formative years. Now, she was in Oklahoma City, exploring the rival gangs that were purported to be enemies of the Sinaloa cartel. 

Her and Javi still talked on the phone, often under the guise of seeking professional opinions from one another but often delving into other topics such as Javi beating the latest level of his Zombies Ate My Neighbors video game or the latest addition to Sandra’s growing records collection. 

Over the past few months, their calls had upped to once a week on average, and sometimes more, depending on their schedules. It had been so seamless that neither had really noticed that the other had become part of their regular routine. It wasn’t long before they found no excuses to call, just simply opting to dial the other over anything they wanted to talk about in the moment.

This morning, Sandra was calling him, coffee thermos in the other hand, to thank him for getting her in touch with a fellow DEA agent that’d be able to help her with her current assignment. The federal building wasn’t far from the hotel she was living out of and they spoke on the phone as she walked the way there.

“Just know that if this guy gives me the runaround or some bogus info, you’ll have me to answer to.”

She can hear the smirk in Javi’s voice as he replies, “I think we both know I’ve been on your bad side enough times to know better by now.”

“And don’t you forget it,” she shoots back.

“How much longer you gonna be in OKC anyway? I’m tired of you complaining about the mosquitos over there.”

“Yeah, well, they’re the size of fucking birds. Don’t even get me started on the amount of armadillo roadkill I’ve passed by on the freeway.”

Javi cuts in, “There’s armadillos in Texas, too.”

“Anyway, I’m gonna be here until I feel like I’ve got enough for my assignment.” 

Javi hums, “Hmmm.”

“Hmmm? What does “hmmm” mean?”

There’s a pause on the phone before he speaks, “It’s just been a minute since we’ve seen each other. Was wondering if you’d be able to make the drive down my way.”

Javi’s been attempting to find a way to casually make the suggestion since about three phone calls ago, but wasn’t sure the best way to go about it. His own investigation, right now, prevented him from leaving his post, but Sandra seemed to have a more flexible, albeit spontaneous, schedule. It’d been about a year since they last saw each other in person and with the recent ramp up of their communication, he figured he’d throw the bone out there.

“Awww, somebody misses me?” Sandra teases. “Or are you just looking for your next booty call?”

Javi chuckles, “C’mon, I’m a classy guy! I’d at least fly you down instead of making you drive if that was the case.”

He revels in her loud giggles that crosses over his phone line. 

“You’re not gonna be too happy when the first thing I do when I see you is punch the shit out of you,” she declares.

“Ouch, yeah, I think Carrillo still feels it in his nose from that time you decked hi-”

Javi’s words are cut off by a loud explosion that echoes from the speaker. He’s up out of the rolling desk chair in his office instantaneously.

“Sandra!” he shouts, “Sandra!”

There’s screaming, car alarms, and sounds of large objects falling and colliding against one another. It’s utter chaos and for a few moments, Javi’s worried that he’s heard Sandra’s last words. It takes several more seconds before he hears heavy breathing directly into the line.

“Shit,” she mutters. He can hear movement as if she’s changing positions.

“Sandra,” Javi calls for her again.

“I- I think there was a fucking bomb.” He can hear her heels clack against the sidewalk and the way in which they speed up as if she’s running.

“What?”

“A bomb, Javi. I was about to cross the street to the federal building and half of it’s just fucking gone.” 

He exclaims, “Fuck! Are you alright? Are you hurt?”

“I’ve been worse for wear before,” she says, which isn’t a straight answer in his head and he surmises that she’s got either not a scratch on her or one of her bones sticking out about now. He also knows she’s batshit crazy enough to run towards danger instead of away from it.

“Sandra, turn the fuck back around and get to safety. You can’t be the one to break the story if you’re in the ground.”

She scoffs, “There are people that could be hurt-”

“You hear those sirens in the background? They’re first responders who know what they’re fucking doing,” Javi cuts in, “Besides, you’re gonna act like you won’t be sniffing for questions while you’re ‘helping’?”

He knows she can hear the air quotes even when they’re not face to face. The same way he could just see the eye roll she gives him just now at his words. 

“Well, yeah, but everything is history, and firsthand accounts could even help with identifying the monsters that did this.”

“Also not your job, Sandra!” It’s a Wednesday morning and he’s supposed to be focusing on his current case, but the inner voice in his head tells him “fuck it.” He’s grabbing his jacket and keys, solely intent on walking past his bosses’ office, getting into his car, and driving to Oklahoma. “At the very least, stick with an actual first responder, they’re probably gonna set up a triage and command post for all the agencies.”

She’s too stubborn to answer but he knows her resolute sigh well enough to know that she’ll heed his advice. 

The line gets fuzzy for a moment, and Javi considers that they probably might lose connection with all of the 911 calls probably pouring in at her location. 

“Look, just-” he pauses again, unsure of what to say without it being too small or too big. There was a right time for everything after all. “Just be careful. I’ll see you soon.”

He hangs up his cell without waiting for a response and starts up his car. 

It’s night time when he finally gets there and he knows well enough that she’s still at the scene even after all this time. 

It takes several minutes to find her, but a petite woman with a gray tarp covering her, dried blood stains on the side of her head, who’s also currently badgering a police officer for information, comes into his view. The officer must give some morsel of solid information because she’s furiously writing in her little notepad and then giving him a genuine thank you with a curt nod.

She’s not searching for him when their eyes meet but she immediately smirks when he comes into her view.

They both take rushed steps towards each other, lightly pushing between other responders and families reuniting with their loved ones.

They finally meet in the middle and she chuckles, “You are so fucking dramatic.”

Click here if you wanna be added to the taglist! Taglist: @drabbles-mc @asirensrage @ashlingnarcos @narcosfandomdiscord

[eledritch]

hi ele!

i’m a fan of your writing, mostly your voltron fics but i’ve also read your dragon age, critical role, and captive prince stories, they are all so fucking good. where do i go to join your cult? /j

you’re insanely creative in your AUs or plot ideas, from plant porn to beauty in the beast with vampires but also magic schools with magic goddesses and incubi and cambions!

i was just wondering what inspires you when you’re coming up with ideas for fics and what normally comes first to you, the setting or plot or something else? plus, how did you develop such a strong sense of characterization? because across alternate universes and in every different life, your characters are so consistent and recognizable.

another way your creativity shines is the world building in your fics, it is always so fascinating and effortless, it’s a tantalizing background that really hooks me into the world of your stories. i don’t know if you have more notes on world building that didn’t make it into your fics but please know i would sell my soul for a napkin of extra notes for your fics. do you world build as you write or plan it in advance? and do some things you consider fic-canon not make it into the final edit or do you try to work everything you have in?

i know this is a lot, i’m very interested in your writing methods and how you develop so many amazing stories sorry! thanks for your many years of amazing writing and the time it took you to read this ask XD

Hi wow this is all so kind of you to say!! I'm so glad you enjoy my writing <3

so, I would say that usually when I am starting on a new story, I start with the characters and think about what kinds of situations, settings, conflicts, genres, themes, etc I want to write them in. Fantasy is one of my favorite genres because in many ways it feels the most flexible -- I am probably halfway between a pantser and a plotter in terms of story-planning, so I enjoy having space in my plots for them to change if I feel like they need to. I usually know the ending early on in the process tho.

Worldbuilding is one of my favorite aspects of writing and partly why I am so partial to writing AUs. I tend to do more planning for the worldbuilding up front than I do with the plot: my story worlds are scaffolds on which I can build the plot, if that makes sense. I've loved worldbuilding since I was a kid, and I think the best advice I can give for how to build story worlds is to read a lot of books. Books I read as a kid still influence how I worldbuild today (a few that come to mind are the Redwall, Series of Unfortunate Events, Narnia, & May Bird books), as well as videogames (Dragon Age always), places I've actually been, and honestly my academic reading/writing also definitely influences my creative writing, i.e., when thinking about how to write about social conflicts and cultural norms and especially colonization/empire in the worlds I write stories about.

For writing both characters and worldbuilding, I think it's really key to figure out how to suspend your readers' disbelief, and this starts with suspending your own disbelief. You have to believe in the worlds and characters you create. This means being comfortable with writing your characters in all kinds of situations, because people only show a lot of aspects of themselves (and therefore seem like real people, because people & their personalities & motives & backgrounds are complex) if they experience a lot of things. This may be why I gravitate towards writing stories with more dramatic tones and plots, because I find it much more fun to figure out characters by stressing them out. Seriously, I think characters solidify when they're placed in wild situations lol! And these don't necessarily need to be really serious perilous situations, but rather events and conflicts that fundamentally challenge the characters and force you to imagine how they might react in ways that feel true to how you've written them.

For example, one of my favorite character types to write is "kind of a bitch but like, a complicated bitch and kind of justified in their bitchiness because they're going through some stuff." Laurent from Captive Prince definitely falls under this; Keith from VLD, Essek from CR, and Astarion from BG3 also fit into this category (albeit all in really different ways and shades of bitchiness haha). I find these characters fun to write because they're characters who should probably change -- they also have clearly defined flaws and desires, which is great when you have to create a conflict and keep readers engaged/make readers get attached to these characters.

It's tough to root for a character who is consistently a bitch, never feels bad about it, has no reason for being that way, is never critiqued by other characters about it, and is not influenced to change by the narrative at all. It's a lot easier to root for a character who has some kind of inner conflict going on which is complemented by the outer conflict/s of the story. I'm especially fond of characters who have trust issues, because this is a flaw that obviously lends itself well to romance plots, but also can have some very interesting backstory implications and lead to really dynamic yet believable character development, as trust can be built incrementally and also wax and wane in a way that feels natural and builds narrative tension in a compelling way. It also allows you to work on other characters, since trust requires at least two people :)

Thank you for your questions!! I'm sure this is all over the place (it's finals week and dear god grad school finals week is actually hell) but best of luck in your own writing and I hope to share more fic soon~

[stargazeraldroth]

Pokémon AU…?

Also, IMO, teams don’t have to be good competitively, as long as they fit the character and mesh well with them!

Ye. It's not gonna be like traditional Pokemon games, as it takes a LOT of inspiration from two fan games in particular: Insurgence and Reborn. If you know anything about those two games, then you'll know they have darker storylines with character deaths and an emphasis on the evil groups present in their regions. I would absolutely love to play Pokemon Insurgence myself, but I haven't figured out how to do that on my laptop (or if it'll even support it, for that matter).

But moving on, I'm still uncertain on how dark I want the story to become. For the most part, I've only started working on the concepts of some characters, with the most developed character as of right now being Frisk. Which is a good thing, since Frisk is the main character/protagonist. I don't think I can really work on the characters until I figure out the worldbuilding and setting, and that's where I'm currently at a fork in the road. I don't know whether I should have the story take place in an existing region or if I should make my own for the sake of this AU. The second option gives me much more flexibility and creative freedom, whiiiich can also be a double-edged sword. Very fun indeed.

At the very least, I have the protagonist and their rivals, the 8 Gym Leaders, the Elite Four, and the Champion figured out. I'm also making progress on the evil organization of the AU.

[blubushie]

Jesse and Mundy questions! Part 1 because I'm on my phone and can only keep so many questions copied at once

What triggers nostalgia for them, most often? Do they enjoy that feeling?

What lie do they most frequently remember telling? Does it haunt them?

Do they consider laws flexible, or immovable?

What were they told to stop/start doing most often as a child?

How easy is it for your character to laugh?

What triggers nostalgia for them? Do they enjoy that feeling?

It's mainly smell for both of them. For Jesse, it's the smell of vanilla. Her family was always poor and so was Edith's, but Cindy and Edith would sometimes combine their own money together to get ingredients and Edith would come over to Cindy's place to bake with her. Cakes were most common, and nothing was better to Jesse than coming home from a rough day at school to the smell of vanilla in the flat because her mum baked something. Jesse loves the smell of vanilla and it only brings good memories.

For Mundy, it's the smell of cinnamon. Much like Jesse, his mum would bake too. Her go-to was a plum pie (I will release the recipe later in the fic when shit get's really fun, so look out for that! Expect the chapter number to probably be somewhere in the late 40s to early 50s.) Anyway, her secret trick was sprinkling cinnamon over the plums before covering them with the top layer of dough. The entire house would fill with the smell of cinnamon while the pie baked, and Mrs Mundy would often smell like it herself (and it was very obvious when Mickey would hug her). The smell of cinnamon is incredibly nostalgic to Mundy and it doesn't help that it's one of Jesse's favourite smells, so she uses cinnamon-scented shampoo. If she falls asleep with him he just buries his face in her hair and breathes in the smell of it. For Mundy, it's something very bittersweet. It reminds him of his mum and home in a good way, but the knowledge that he'll never smell it on his mum again breaks his heart.

As an additional one, Mundy adores the smell of golden wattle. There's nothing bittersweet about this. It just reminds him of home in a purely good way. Not only is it the national flower of Australia, but it's also native to his hometown of Tilpa, so he'd smell the blooms often (and it's a very fragrant smell. Used in perfumes across the world because of how good it is).

For bittersweet on Jesse's behalf, it's the smell of Lucky Strike cigarettes. Though she doesn't remember the smell or what the box looked like, it's the cigarettes her brother Mikey used to smoke. For her it's one of those things you don't recognise until you encounter it again and the memory immediately takes you back. She can't tell you what brand Mikey smoked, or what the box looked like, or how the cigarettes smelt, but if she smelt them now it'd be an immediate resurge of memory (and probably a surge of tears to follow).

What lie do they tell the most? Does it haunt them?

"I'll be safe, Mum/Ma." That's the most common one. Neither of them necessarily feel bad for it since they don't want their parents to worry. There's a specific lie (by omission) that Mundy continues what features heavily later in the story, but I can't tell you because that'd be spoilers! (There's also a somewhat-minor lie Jesse has been telling people and herself for years, and it's hinted at in the upcoming chapter, but the full scope of it isn't revealed until later in the story. Props if you can figure it out!)

Do they consider laws flexible, or immovable?

Both of them don't pay too much mind to the law. Mundy follows a mantra of respect and courtesy--he obeys road laws, he's polite and tries to avoid trouble as much as he can for a mercenary. Jesse is more of the "no-harm-no-foul" type and will disobey laws that she thinks are stupid (no public swearing, for example).

Jesse is less worried about law and more worried about sin as an Irish Catholic. She'll use God's name in vain but you'll never hear her utter a "Jesus" or "Jesus Christ" in vain. She immediately lost interest in Jeremy when he started dating Pauling. She's never stolen (not just because it's a sin, but also because she grew up poor and she knows how important what little possessions she had were to her). Jesse's also never done a contract killing. All of the people she's killed as a merc have been the result of self-defence of herself or others (or so she says). There were also matches, but those guys didn't stay dead so they don't count, right? Right?

Overall, flexible for both of them.

What were they told to stop/start doing most often as a child?

Mundy was told to get down from high places. He was always climbing things as a kid--trees, buildings, people (as a toddler he was notorious for climbing up his parents' legs to make them pick him up). He has a love of heights and that continues even now with his propensity to hide in his sniper nests (and he still climbs trees).

For Jesse, it was being told to stop moving. This was very prevalent in school. She'd drum her fingers or bounce her knee. She was never disruptive to anyone but herself, but it did make schoolwork and focusing a pain in the arse for her.

How easy is it for them to laugh?

For Mundy, a little difficult. The most you'll usually get out of him is a twitch of the corner of his mouth, or maybe a chuckle if it's particularly funny. That said he has a roaring laugh when you actually get him going. He gets tears in his eyes. It's as though months of repressed laughter comes out if you make a really good crack and then he just can't stop. Has a harsh smoker's laugh and wheezes. It's great.

For Jesse, it's incredibly easy. She chuckles to herself a lot, laughs at her own jokes, giggles at funny Australian slang Mundy says, and if he says any joke (the more deadpan the better) she'll start laughing her arse off. It's very easy to get Jesse to laugh and sometimes she laughs so hard she snorts which is a guarantee to get Mundy to start laughing too. Works every time.

[mollysworldfair]

Space!

kind of hard for me to get that much into sci-fi worldbuilding largely because i can't really connect to the massive scale that a lot of scifi universes operate on, and also i don't find space super interesting? a lot of scifi novels/stories i've read feel like they take place in the square footage of the average medieval duchy or small university town except instead of having brooks or streams or forests in between places there's just nothingness that exists only to be traversed. i guess that's something that interests me about space: the cracks between realities or worlds that you can only move through--how can anything settle or drift there? I find the ocean a lot more interesting since it actually has character and texture to it, and endless variety and power and force, and is also made of a lot of water (i love water!).

Space from what I can see is just inert blank space, which I guess some people find interesting but I find boring. My favourite descriptions of space are from Paradise Lost where I remember Satan escapes from Hell and flies over the broiling realm of Chaos and looks over the millions and billions of worlds being formed before getting to the newly created earth (haven't read it in a while so might be wrong!). On the opposite end of creation I loved Dante's flight through the successive stages of the heavenly bodies toward the Empyrean in the Paradiso. Premodern cosmologies just feel a lot more fun to me.

I kind of want space to still be vast and terrifying, in concurrent to time, and 'dominate' people like in that thought experiment on Twitter a while back of whether rain 'dominates' you by stopping your plans from going outside, or enfold people and civilizations like the roiling ocean in Moby Dick (another really fun Biblical Chaos!).

That's a really large scale thing though and really overwhelming to worldbuild about. I remember talking on tumblr a while back about a scifi universe where polities have over millions of years grown so vast and successful that they became essentially unintelligible Lovecraftian entities that extend both in space and time, ensuring the conditions of their emergence and forming their own metaphysics, natural laws, politics, etc. This has essentially fragmented the galaxies into a mosaic of occassionally overlapping parallel realities that possess no conscious engineering of their own but a directionality to them from which societies of varying sort emerge. These celestial bodies render anything potentially conscious or animate depending on the ways in which they are disposed and formed. Space and time are conjoined and ebb, flow, are channelled, and shaped in various conscious and unconscious ways throughout the universe, in a primordial chaos of innumerable orders.

This is a super high scope idea that doesn't really make it easier to make up fun settings or stories, and will have to figure out how they function in a way that doesn't overwhelm me too much. I also don't know enough philosophy, science, anthropology, history etc to make interesting variations (i keep making up new variations of Space Dutch Republic). I'll try to zero in on particular spaces and times to make things fun, hopefully the flexibility in reality the setting allows will give me more wiggle room for fun or silly aesthetics --more space fantasy than science fiction.

Will also have to come up with what to call these large pocket realities/celestial bodies/space-time-logic worms/multigalactic polities. Maybe Geists? Imagos? Myriads? Will have to look up fun philosophy and religious terms.

Maybe a good place to start is a galaxy/Geist known as the Empyrean, formed from the agglomeration of the Milky Way and Andromeda along with several other galaxies and which itself as being the origin, source, from which all other Geists spring and which radiate outward, gaining being from its Being in a Neoplatonic way. Only the Empyrean itself is a hollow core, the material and fields through which it has reproduced and maintained itself have long gone extinct or been destroyed, creating a space of supposed chaos, with no "true laws", internal consistency, or logic, although there are many galactic powers who wish to continue simulating the Empyrean, or what they can scientifically approximate or remember what the Empyrean was. Will the corpse of the Empyrean grow and birth a new, all-encompassing Geist, or will the sum of its parts become something different?